Allusions In Catcher In The Rye

Teenage years are difficult. Time tells this story of struggle again and again. The Catcher in the Rye is a classic novel showing the struggles a teenager goes through while transitioning into adulthood. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a judgmental and temperamental boy who struggles to see the positivity in life. Throughout the story, Holden searches to find himself, as he feels forced to grow up. He holds onto aspects of his childhood and isolates himself so much that it is even harder for him to transition. J.D. Salinger uses the red hunting hat, the museum and cigarettes as important symbols in the story to convey the themes of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, loneliness, and isolation.

Change is inevitable and is a constant phase that Holden cannot conceptualize. Holden's fear of change can be exemplified by the Museum of Natural History. Like the museum, he wants everything to be unchanging and as simple as possible. He talks about the immutable statues by saying, "Certain things they should stay the way they are... I know it's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" (Salinger 122). By admitting his fear of change, Holden also reveals another important aspect of his life: his loss of childhood innocence. The only thing he can talk about without contempt is kids. Allie, his deceased brother, is continuously mentioned in the book, as well as the many interactions Holden has with Phoebe. Although he is continuously deriding others around him, he humbly admits to his sister that the only thing he could envision doing is saving kids, "What I have to do - I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff [...] I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd like to be" (Salinger 173). Holden's love for kids is the only

Holden is constantly using crude phrases that would have shocked the original readers of the book. This is to represent the fact that Holden is trying to merge with the adult world and he assumes that by using more ‘adult’ language he can achieve this. The present day Holden refers to most of the people he met during the time he was in New York as ‘’Old.’’ This helps him to disassociate himself with the past and shows that he feels it is a different part of his life. So although during his ‘journey of discovery’ Holden appears not to have emotionally progressed towards adulthood, clearly he has now evolved and grown up, be it just a

“The Catcher in the Rye” is about a sixteen year old teenager talking about the story of his mental break down. It is really impressive because J.D. Salinger’s writing style is very direct as if Holden is talking exclusively to me and telling me about his struggles between childhood and adulthood. “The Catcher in the Rye” illustrates Holden’s hope to protect childhood innocence from adult phoniness.

The line “Under the shadow of her father’s terrible collar …” proves this idea. The narrator is hesitant when kissing her which is proved by the line “And as she finds you incredibly naïve,” The narrator is most likely afraid of what will happen next if he continues with the girl. He is probably afraid that something would happen between him and her father, so he becomes afraid of the change about to occur. “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Novel” shares a very similar characteristic. Holden is afraid of change because his brother Allie died and he believes that growing up will lead to death and ultimately nothing good will come out of it. The narrator in “Novel” is also afraid of change because he is hesitant when he is kissing the girl. The narrator also drinks beer and has a good time walking around saying that he isn’t serious because he’s 17. Both Holden and the narrator are afraid of change and coming of age.

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden appreciates predictable people. For example, Holden enjoys going to the museum (16). The reason is that every time Holden goes to the museum, the placement of the artifacts will never change. This shows that he values stability. This means that Holden dislikes change because it

Holden is scared because he feels bad about the wrong things he judges people, and because he does not understand the world around him. Holden will not acknowledge his phobia. Holden only expresses his fear a few times throughout the entire book, when Holden talks about sex, he admits that,“[s]ex is something I just do not understand. I swear to God I do not” (63 Salinger). Sex is something that you learn as you grow up, but if you try to ignore the concept of growing up, you will not understand adult concepts. In the book, Holden’s central goal in the entirety of the book, is to resist growing up and try to abstain from the process of growing up. Holden would like to have everything explained in simple terms and be easily understandable and externally fixed. Growing up and the process

For many, this is the age between Childhood and adulthood. For Holden, these years are the most frightening time of his life. Holden doesn’t want to face the responsibilities and “fake”-ness of the world of adulthood. From any age range, a reader can empathize on what Holden is feeling, for we are either going through it or have already passed it. These thoughts become especially evident when Holden says: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move.” (pg 157) describing the stillness of museum displays. Holden rambles on about this for a while, and it becomes clear that Holden doesn’t just like the displays just because they stay still, it’s because they’re ‘stuck’ in time, and never have to continue on to see the future. For Holden, that would be a dream come

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about growing up. It explores the obstacles we all face during our transition from child to adulthood. The tragedies and triumphs, the breakthroughs and setbacks, the happiness and heartache. As you follow the book's protagonist, Holden, through his journey into adulthood, you learn about his life, but more importantly, you learn about your own. You grow to sympathize with the young rebel, and you begin to see traces of yourself in him.

Holden wishes to live this way rather than face the challenges around him he encounters in reality. The museum reminds Holden of his childhood, something dear to him that he’s trying to preserve. Holden’s childhood plays a big part in Holden’s search for identity, which is his reasoning for preserving it.

    J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.

Another big problem Holden faces throughout his journey in life was how much he struggled to keep his innocence. After Holden was able to get his letter delivered to his sister, Phoebe, asking her to meet him at the Museum of art, he decides to explore the museum while he waits while he looks at all displays he states, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole ... Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat on this time” (Salinger 121). This shows that Holden likes the Natural History museum because, no matter what else changed in his life, it was always the same: it was like a freeze-frame picture of his own childhood, a safe spot he could always come back to. This also depicts that Holden has always found a way around times

First of all, some teenagers fear/unsure of change, and Holden is one of them. He’d even like the world to never change, for time to be frozen, so he can stay in his childhood and not worry about going into the adulthood. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south…”. This is a symbol, that Holden was in a National Museum and that he likes it when everything is the same. He desires to stop time.

As a result, Holden also wants everything to be the same. During his time in New York when he visits the Natural History Museum, he says he likes the fact that everything in the museum stays in one specific place and that it never changes, which shows that Holden wants to protect those he cares about from the phoniness of the adult world and hold on to them. Holden wants to live in a world where He wants to be the protector of innocence ,“the catcher in the rye”

In The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, a teenage boy, Holden keeps getting expelled from schools due to him finding the people there phony. The book takes place over three days where Holden wiles away his time roaming around New York before his parents find out he has been kicked out of yet another school he was sent to, Pencey Prep. Narrated from a teenager’s point of view, it gives a look into Holden’s messy mind as he tries to find a goal to work towards. Salinger uses Holden’s actions and the poem “Comin Thro the Rye” by Robert Burns to show Holden's idea of childhood: it must be protected and develops the understanding that growing up is process that everyone must go through.